THE reversal of fortunes in this game was such that it would not have been surprising to discover the combatants had swapped strips at quarter-time. From that point on, everything that had gone before was turned inside-out.

St Kilda should have been as much as six goals clear at the first change, having squandered a dominance betrayed in a 17-9 inside 50 count with some terrible kicking at goal. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, were losing the clearances two-to-one, and seemingly clueless as to how they might cover the absence of Robert Murphy across half-forward.

They were spared a greater mountain to climb by Nick Riewoldt having an early fit of the yips and missing two, Stephen Milne hinting at a torrid afternoon with a howler of his own, and the officials missing an apparent touch on Farren Ray's long, running attempt that registered one of the Bulldogs' two goals.

Then came the recasting of the script, in a two-quarter burst in which the Saints lost their way completely in attack, and no doubt lost the endorsement of many who still saw them as a premiership contender.

Milne and Adam Schneider gave them precious little, the promising Matthew Ferguson was completely blanketed by the even more promising Tom Williams, and while Riewoldt sorted out his kicking, he rarely got to test his leg under the blanket cast over him by Dale Morris.

And then there was Kosi, who had one of those days when his senses seemed so dulled that he might have had a better time if he'd taken a wrong turn and ended up in Albuquerque.

The contrast with Brian Lake was irresistible.

Both left the field early with what appeared to be serious knee injuries, Justin Koschitzke's after a clash with Dylan Addison that did nothing to dispel the theory that he plays in blinkers. Lake went down five minutes in, and breaths were held as to how much of the Bulldogs' season might go with him.

They came back and duly kept each other company for much of the afternoon, but the oft-repeated sight of Lake spoiling, marking in a contest or bouncing his way out of defence, while Koschitzke lumbered in his wake, indicated who was the happier camper.

The Bulldogs' five second-quarter goals were split three-two between Jason Akermanis and Daniel Giansiracusa, whose industry again overrode the absence of a marking target up forward. They simply found ways to score, Giansiracusa barrelling one home from 60 metres on the run to beat a heavy flood, and Akermanis the genie who time and again burst out of the bottle.

He had 11 kicks for the quarter, five opponents for the day — a couple of them twice — and was rewarded with six goals and quite probably another three votes towards what could well be a second Brownlow Medal.

Aka is most definitely back.

Nothing went the Saints' way, especially not Scott McLaren's arm in a comical muck-up in which the umpire pointed the wrong way for an Adam Cooney free-kick. This prompted a mass migration of players out of St Kilda's defence, leaving Giansiracusa all alone when McLaren corrected himself.

The Dogs should have wrapped it up sooner than they did, squandering some red-carpet avenues to goal in a third quarter that netted 4.8. Ryan Griffen and Cooney each hit the post, and even Akermanis was astray, but his clinical finish after the siren ended the contest.

First-gamer Callan Ward, a local boy who could walk to Whitten Oval for training, chimed in with a fine goal on the burst, and the Dogs were so comfortable with proceedings in their back half that they pushed Williams forward. At both ends, he showed his club's patience regarding his development has been well placed.

The Saints more than doubled their score after the last break, but the damage was well and truly done. Nick Dal Santo, whose prolific opening had been a major factor in his team's early ascendancy, was tempered by Matthew Boyd, while Daniel Cross matched Luke Ball for output and Shane Birss' early efforts against his old team could not be sustained.

Ross Lyon concluded that his players had been "a bit bomby" with their use of the ball by foot; a second-quarter kicking efficiency of 50% indicated he was right. "I'm not sure what it looked like," Lyon wondered. Ugly was the word he was searching for.

W BULLDOGS 2.0 7.5 11.13 15.16 (106)
ST KILDA 3.6 4.7 5.9 11.13 (79)

GOALS: Western Bulldogs: Akermanis 6, Giansiracusa 4, Ray, Williams, Ward, Griffen, Welsh. St Kilda: Gram 2, Riewoldt 2, Jones 2, Hayes, Birss, Dal Santo, Blake, Milne.

BEST: Western Bulldogs: Akermanis, Lake, Giansiracusa, Morris, Boyd, Griffen, Cross, Williams. St Kilda: Dal Santo, Jones, Ball, Birss, Gram.

INJURIES: Western Bulldogs: Lake (knee). St Kilda: Koschitzke (knee), King (back) replaced in side by Fisher, Harvey (calf) replaced in side by Gwilt.

REPORTS: Hudson (Western Bulldogs) by umpire McLaren for striking Montagna (St Kilda) in second quarter.

UMPIRES: McLaren, Schmitt, Chamberlain.

CROWD: 38,914 at Telstra Dome.

THE UPSHOT Without Robert Murphy the Bulldogs looked a little unbalanced going forward in the early stages but they easily adjusted. Brad Johnson moved further up the field and the breach was filled by Jason Akermanis and Daniel Giansiracusa. The Dogs are fast and skilful, two things the Saints are not. St Kilda's disposal was woeful after half-time.

TALKING POINT St Kilda's forward line. Long bombs to Nick Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke rarely worked and they had nothing from small forwards Adam Schneider and Stephen Milne either crumbing or offering an alternative to the bomb.

HOT AND COLD The umpires were bad early, with a goal given to the Dogs in the first quarter which looked to have been punched through and the wrong arm signal of Scott McLaren had players running out of the Dogs forward line when Adam Cooney was able to pass to Daniel Giansiracusa to goal.

Jason Akermanis could present a true culture shift for the Bulldogs by winning a Brownlow after coming to the club. Previously players waited to leave the Dogs before doing that. Akermanis could well be a sneaky Brownlow chance.